Life span

A life span, life expectancy, or life cycle is the maximum or average length of time a lifeform, material, or object is projected or capable of living or lasting. Having an effectively unlimited lifespan is referred to as Immortality.

The lifespan of humanoid species is known to vary from less than a decade to as long as several millennia. Some non-corporeal species have been known to have lifespans exceeding several millennia.

The Lyssarrian desert larvae, after becoming a mimetic simbiot exactly replicated the life cycle of the species it was mimicking at a rapidly accelerated rate. On average, the simbiot was born, grew old, and died in approximately fifteen days. (ENT: "Similitude")

Most Jem'Hadar died young in battle; as such, it was rare for them to live past fifteen years of age. Few ever lived to the age of twenty, and those who do were awarded the title "Honored Elders." As of the Dominion War, No Jem'Hadar had ever lived to the age of 30. (DS9: "To the Death")

This is based on Ishka claiming that after her ears raised, her lobes were firmer then they had been in over a century. The statement might be taken to imply that they could live at least another hundred years after the end of their prime.

This is a lower limit, as Hudak, the Antaran featured, was said to be able to live for another sixty years by Phlox. It should be noted that Phlox' knowledge on Antaran biology might be sketchy, a fact he himself acknowledged. Hudak appeared to be what in Humans would be called middle aged; the actor playing him was 49 at the time of filming.

This made McCoy the oldest confirmed Human seen in Star Trek, with the exception of Flint and users of suspended animation-like technology

Despite the normal limit on Human age, at least one Human, Flint, lived for six thousand years for unknown reasons which were somehow dependent on the Earth's environment. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah") Another exception were Human Augments, who had life spans twice as long as those of regular 22nd century Humans. (ENT: "Borderland")

No exact lifespan has been given for Klingons, just approximates. In 2370, Odo observed that Kor "must be a hundred years old" and his "best friend," Koloth, was "probably a hundred and fifty years old." This observation was made over one hundred years after their encounter with James Kirk, when they were already accomplished adults.

Vulcans were known to have life spans of two hundred years, which was considered to be exceptionally long by Federation standards. (ENT: "Broken Bow"; TNG: "Unification I") Sarek of Vulcan lived to be 203 years of age. (TNG: "Sarek") However, at some point in their history, the average lifespan of Vulcans was only 40. (ENT: "Similitude"). Trip Tucker scoffed at the idea of Mestral, a Vulcan who lived on Earth beginning in the 20th century, remained there for the rest of his life, which could have been longer than 150 years. Tucker was especially averse to the idea that a Vulcan could live the rest of his lifespan on Earth, unnoticed, from the 1950s through a period of time that included the terms of 30 United States Presidents. (ENT: "Carbon Creek")

Trill symbionts were capable of living at least over 550 years. Trill hosts however tended to live significantly shorter then the symbiont, resulting in a symbiont usually occupying many different hosts during its lifetime.

Denobulan life spans were never specified, Phlox once told Archer that they live "a long time". Additionally Phlox had to treat an patient whose species Denobulans had fought many times in the past, the Antarans (ENT: "The Breach"). Phlox stated that his grandmother had lived through the last war, which was earlier stated as having occurred three hundred years previously.

Additionally, a deleted scene from ENT: "E²" established the Rigellian parrot as a bird known for its very long lifespan. Phlox was nonetheless surprised when it was still alive 117 years after he left it.

While

Star Trek: Insurrection saw a group of Son'a a bit more then a century old, which were employing extensive life extension techniques yet who seemed to be at the limit of how far technology could bring them. Therefore, the natural life spans of Son'a and Ba'ku were presumably not much longer then a century at most.

For methods of Rejuvenation (as opposed to just prolonging life), see Rejuvenation.

Likewise, several methods have also been found to slow the aging process. Both Humans and Vulcans had throughout their history successfully spent a lot of effort to heighten the average lifespans of their species. (ENT: "Similitude")

There also existed spatial anomalies, such as the Nexus, which trapped people within alternate temporal realities thereby continuing their lifespan beyond normal measure and under special circumstance could allow them to occupy a later time-space than their genetics would normally allow. (Star Trek Generations)